User Reviews

I liked this movie, a lot. Please don't be turned away by the usual overly done trailer that might make you not be interested in this film. It goes farther than its surface.

The story is told from the point of view of a narrator, one of the main characters, who makes it appear to be a love story and then the story of a love triangle. Not all is as it appears to be however, and the more the story develops the more you come to realise this.

The only spoiler I'm giving here is *if* you have read The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford, this film will have an entirely different meaning for you, and as Beth says in the film it does have one of the most memorable opening lines in literature, "This is the saddest story I ever heard." This isn't the saddest story you will ever hear, but I think that is partially what the film is about.

The acting isn't superb, but all of the main and supporting characters do their best in their respective roles. There are points in the story where it's frustratingly vague or the story goes a bit thin, but in the end it has a certain pay off that is satisfying in its own way. When I saw how few reviews this film had, I thought it deserved more attention and thought I'd review it myself.

"The Good Guy" was one of the "comedy/romance" films I got myself when, for the first time in my life, I found myself craving a chick flick (which I usually despise) to relieve myself of the stress I've been immersed in lately. To tell the truth, I only chose it for Alexis Bledel (not because I find her a particularly good actress, but because she gives me that cozy familiar feeling that I was looking for) and because the movie poster looked good (now that's a futile reason). Since I looked it up beforehand, I knew it was rated 6.2/10 on IMDb, so my expectations were pretty low -- I tend to be a hard critic. However, I was up for a surprise: to begin with, I got something that could and SHOULD have been labeled as "drama" as well. In fact, "The Good Guy" has very little "comedy" to it, except for the intelligent, well-measured and well-placed jokes that make the film even more enjoyable without detracting from the story's seriousness or credibility.

This film focuses on a very interesting concept that Beth (Alexis Bledel) directly alludes to in a scene where she mentions "The Good Soldier", a book sharing the same basic idea: that we automatically trust a story's narrator out of habit, without taking the time to realize there might be other versions to the events, and that they may not be as innocent as they make themselves look. "The Good Guy" takes on this challenge amazingly well by presenting us with a likable protagonist/narrator (Scott Porter's character, Tommy) that, as the story unfolds, turns out to be (pardon the language) a total jerk, and definitely not trustworthy at all. His betrayal is not only harshly felt by Beth, his girlfriend, but also -- and this is the highly praise-worthy part -- by the viewer, who does not see it coming, partially because the well-constructed events make the "twist" very subtle at first, and partially because, well, he is the narrator, after all! -- this unexpectedness is a lot like what being betrayed in real life actually feels like, and that's why the film becomes so personal, making it even easier to hate Tommy and relate to what Beth is going through. In fact, the story is so well-built that, in the beginning, Beth seems to be the more loose, less trustworthy one, and you expect her to mess up somehow -- until the tables turn and the truth about Tommy is exposed, leaving us, the viewers, with a feeling of having been cheated on by the narrator, who has made fools of us all along, as he has Beth.

In addition to a very original and successfully achieved core concept, "The Good Guy" is composed of decent enough acting and directing (with a few minor mistakes -- but it must be noted that Julio DePietro is a newcomer), is never boring, is funny only when it has to be (and serious most of the time) and does NOT overdo the cheesiness that necessarily derives from its "romance" label: on the contrary, the story and characters feel realistic enough; everything seems "possible", and everyone's actions are justifiable.

All in all, where I expected a light chick flick, I ended up with something much better: a light relationship drama, with some comedy and romance mixed into it. While it is certainly not a great film, The Good Guy is a very enjoyable one with many strong points, and definitely deserves more than the 6.2 IMDb is currently giving it.

There are certain gimmicks used in movies that really should only be reserved for those who are seasoned and confident movie makers. One of those is the "let's reveal the ending at the beginning" gimmick. Basically the filmmaker is betting that everything that will come after the reveal (which basically is a flashback) will be so compelling, it won't matter if the audience already knows what's going to happen. It's risky. And when used by a lesser filmmaker, it's poison. It will kill a film before it even has a chance to breathe. That's exactly what happened with The Good Guy. Here's a film that definitely has it's problems. It's not very well written. It has decent acting performances, but nothing worth writing home about. It has a pretty generic and formulaic plot. But it still had the chance to be somewhat interesting. Had I not known the conclusion, I actually would have been mildly interested in how it was all going to turn out. However, because of the poisonous reveal at the start of the film, there was no real drama involved in any of the major plot points. I never felt sorry for Daniel, because I assumed he was the one wrapping his arms around Beth in the very first scene. I never really hated Tommy because I assumed, from Beth's statement, "I feel sorry for you Tommy...I really do," that he'd done some pretty stupid and crappy things. So by the time the ending of the film got back to the beginning, I actually had a little compassion for Tommy, when what I really should have been thinking was, "Hey pal, you got what you deserved." Was this ever going to be a great film? No. Could it have been a decent one? Maybe. But even if it was going to sink anyway, regardless of the poor film making decision, I'd rather it had sunk on it's own.

Huh. I'm surprised this didn't get a better rating. I just watched on netflix and thought it was half decent. The acting, while not Oscar-worthy, was passable and not distractingly bad. The script, while a bit cheesy and clichéd throughout, was also fine. More importantly, I thought the ending twist was quite clever. Yes, as others have pointed out, they flash forward at the beginning of the film gives you some idea that things don't work out well in the end. But it was such a quick comment (I feel sorry for you) that it really didn't cloud the rest of my watching for the next hour. So when the story suddenly shifted and Tommy suddenly starts talking about the long day he spent with another woman, it felt like it was from left field. And then they did a great job quickly shifting the story from the point of view from other women and Tommy's other life. It felt surprisingly like you just learned you'd been duped by a cheating spouse, and had to go back and see how you'd had your rose colored glasses on for the first part of the relationship. Again, not rocket science, but i thought it was clever in a way far surpassing your average rom com.

I came across the trailer and was hooked and so I immediately watched the movie...It's not a Romantic Comedy, more a of a Romantic Drama, about a young man's search for the right girl and when he does find her...she turns out to be his friend's partner...

Tommy is suave and cool, he has the perfect life, great job, amazing apartment and a beautiful girlfriend. So, he feels its his duty to help his protégé, Daniel a naive gentleman who seems to be perfect for any girl...But he is painfully shy...

Daniel, with the help of Tommy tries to meet girls...But things take a turn when Daniel meets Tommy's partner, Beth.

The film is worth the watch as you root for Daniel, the 'Nice Guy' who gets ignored by the girl, there are some funny moments that combine awkward and funny together brilliantly, Bryan Greenberg is fantastic and he definitely has come a long way from One Tree Hill.

I was not expecting much from this movie. In other words, I was not expecting anything other than the clichés. However, the beginning really caught my attention. Even though it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it caught my interest and once I was interested, I was expecting more. The clear distinction and stereotypical emphasis on the "Good guy" and "Bad Guy" were clearly obvious. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the character development of Daniel from the start to the middle. It really made the viewers root for the good guy. However, I still did not HATE Tommy that much. The part that disappointed me was that I did not expect Tommy to be the stereotypical bad a** player because I liked how the movie started out so much until the middle that I was so hoping that Tommy wasn't a stereotypical jerk like in other movies. Unfortunately, he is 101% the jerk from most chick flicks and hence, did not deserve the girl. Daniel and Tommy were too black and white like good and evil that it just made the storyline fall down a notch.

I also expected Daniel to finally find the courage to ask Beth out, but we don't even see this. All that happens is that we see them sleep together without even dating or nothing. I honestly do like the chemistry between the two, but I was expecting more near the end, but it somehow left me feeling like Daniel is similar to the other guys.

Enough about the stereotypical emphasis, I would have gave this an 8 if it was a little more creative near the end. Overall, it was an enjoyable movie. The acting was average and the storyline started out strong, but ended poorly in terms of direction.

I was drawn by the actors but was turned off immediately by constant f bombs. The only reason I watched it to the very end is to see what the first scene meant and to find out what happened to Beth and Tommy. I was totally turned off by the constant obscenities. It was as if they got their degrees and job experience in a prison yard instead of in finance or college. The men were mostly users and out to get only what they wanted themselves. Total jerks and immature. Only one or two of the men in their office had any integrity. Don't want to tell you more in case you want to watch this however I don't recommend wasting your time. Not to spoil too much but I liked the ending.. they got what they deserved.

I have to start my comments with my observations about the lead actor here, Alexis Bledel. I really like her, she was perfect as a high school student in 'Gilmore Girls', she seems like a very sweet person, and very attractive. But she simply is a lousy actor. In this movie, and others, where she has been in scenes with other 20-something females, the others are always more convincing than she is. I wish she would either improve her acting skills or quit trying to handle lead roles. In one scene she asks "Have you ever been in a hot air balloon." Easy question. I asked my wife, "What did she say?" We replayed that 2 more times, neither of us could understand her. We had to put on the subtitles. There is no excuse for such poor enunciation.

To the movie. Here she is Beth Vest, a successful young professional in New York, who has met a really nice guy Scott Porter as Tommy Fielding, with a successful career as a Wall Street banker. Beth begins to think maybe Tommy is "the one", but she gets offered a promotion, in San Francisco. What to do?

Meanwhile the new guy at the bank, Bryan Greenberg as Daniel Seaver, seems to be an absolute zero when it comes to socializing, and especially women. Tommy gives seemingly all his free time trying to improve Daniel, even going so far as to sending him to a bookstore to meet women, encouraging him by cell phone. As fate would have it, Beth walks in and Daniel is smitten, not knowing who she is. Eventually Beth, Tommy, and Daniel all get into a romantic triangle of sorts.

Andrew McCarthy looks pretty good for almost 50, who can forget him in 'Mannequin'? Here he is appropriately named Cash, and as the boss he is fond of telling Tommy and all the others, "Your job is to make money for me." Except for the excessively foul mouth, he is pretty good in this role. The rest of the guys are caricatures of young Wall Street professionals, who work the phones to make deals during the day, and spend nights boozing and chasing women.

Overall a pretty poor movie, even if there had been a better actor in the role of Beth.

SPOILERS: Tommy was not what he first appeared to the audience, and to Beth. While he came across as sincere, he always had several other young women, and one prostitute, just a call away. When Beth found out what was going on she quickly severed ties and it appeared that she and Daniel were well on the way to a solid relationship. Well 'solid' by Hollywood standards.

(2009) The Good Guy DRAMA

Co-produced, written and directed by Julio DePietro with the movie opens with a young man ringing on the door of a girl's apartment who she s with another guy. At this point viewers are oblivious about it's three main characters. And by the time the girl decides to come downstairs, she then hands him some money and says-she pities him. He walks away sulking going into cab. At this point viewers do not know what kind of relationship this is, but on the next scene the movie steps back six weeks earlier. And as it turns out, the guy that was banging on the door is really a wall street trader, Tommy (Scott Porter) and that the girl "was" his girlfriend Beth(Alexis Bledel) as we see how they first met which he saw her at a book club. And as the movie continues, we are then introduced to someone of an introvert named, Daniel (Bryan Greenberg) the third wheel who was at her apartment at the beginning. Apparently, Tommy was looking for another man since the previous insider wall street trader left for another firm who was offering more money, and Tommy was given the task of finding another replacement to fill in the gap so to speak. So when Tommy and his friends are hanging out at a pub, it is when he meets Daniel as a server and offers him a better job as an insider trader.

Spoil And it is during then we also see Tommy's extra-marital affairs with other women even though he already had a girlfriend, named Beth who she seems to have more in common with the introvert, Daniel than the current boyfriend she is dating. What ends up happening she bumps into one of Tommy's current ex's at a bar and learns he is still sleeping with her. Forcing her to dump Tommy to be with Daniel. Self-explanatory set up of a 'boy meets girl!"

Great cast. Andrew McCarthy is an amazingly convincing asshole boss. The main character and voice of the movie Tommy takes Daniel , a very shy non aggressive rookie under his wing, in the game of Wall Street trade. There's also Alexis Bledels character Tommy girlfriend who is weighing her relationship with Tommy under the added pressures of a possible work relocation She and Daniel inevitably fall for one another shortly after their meet cute at a book store. You know cause they are both readers I didn't like how the end outed Tommy as they protagonist that ending would've been the same had he been faithful or otherwise I don't regret watching this film. I'd recommend it to your chick flick Queue for a rainy Saturday

Writer/director Julio DePietro apparently thought having a plot twist toward the end of The Good Guy was all he needed to make this movie worth watching. He was very wrong. This romantic-bromantic-comedy fails as romance, bromance and comedy and after mostly wasting 90 minutes of your life, reveals that it never really had a point to make in the first place.

Tommy (Scott Porter) is a Wall Street stock broker with a pig of a boss (Andrew McCarthy), a collection of a-hole work friends (Aaron Yoo and Andrew Stewart-Jones) and a beautiful girlfriend named Beth (Alexis Bledel) who won't sleep with him. Tommy and Beth do eventually end up boinking, even though this story never presents any reason for why the two of them are together or care a whit for each other. Tommy also winds up taking a guy named Daniel (Bryan Greenberg) under his wing, getting him a job as a stock broker and trying to cultivate Daniel's personality and skill with women. Neither of those things are easy because Daniel makes Opie from The Andy Griffith Show look suave and sophisticated.

As Tommy keeps pushing Daniel to hit on strange women, one of those feeble passes unknowingly ends up aimed at Beth. But wait, the film doesn't become all about how Beth is unwittingly caught between two friends because the movie almost immediately has Daniel, Tommy and Beth show up at the same party where they find out about each other. Daniel does end up joining Beth's book club with her female friends, a situation notable only for how it emphasizes how little romantic interest Beth seems to have in Daniel, while he tries hard not to openly moon over her.

There's a couple of scenes thrown in there with Daniel, Tommy and his friends doing some male bonding and a couple of scenes with Beth doing girl stuff with her friends. The Good Guy then sort of stops and broods for a while before coming to a plot twist that not only had no emotional impact on me, I have no idea what emotions it was intended to stir or how it was supposed to stir them. If this movie weren't so tepid or Alexis Bledel weren't wearing so many clothes, I'd be sorely tempted to view it a second time while listening to the commentary of writer/director DePietro just to try and understand what the hell he thought was doing. I surely can't make hide nor hair of it.

What makes the twist not working even worse is that after it happens, it becomes clear the story was entirely about the twist. There's nothing interesting about the relationship between Tommy and Beth. There's nothing interesting between the relationship between Beth and Daniel. The only reason the relationship between Tommy and Daniel is even marginally interesting is that it mostly occurs in the middle 20 minutes of the movie where it's trying to be funny. For those 20 minutes, there's a real effort to generate some comedy from the city mouse/country mouse dynamic between Tommy and Daniel. The 35 minutes before and after that are almost devoid of humor.

Bledel and her luminescent blue eyes are nice to look at and you don't realize how stupid much of the movie is until the end when you realize the supposed foreshadowing and build up to the twist doesn't really fit. Most everything else in The Good Guy either falls flat, never rises to any point where it could fall flat or exists in the movie to kill time until it can get to the ill-conceived twist.

This thing won't leave your mouth agape at how dreadful it is, but it is less entertaining than a good nap. It's not as painfully cloying as many chick flicks are, but it doesn't engage on any level at all. If you're a dude being forced to watch a chick flick, you can do worse than this. However, that's a little like saying being beaten with a rubber hose isn't as bad as getting your genitals electrocuted. You're better off avoiding those kind of experiences altogether.

Basically, it's about a Wall Street guy named Tom Fielding (Scott Porter) who's dating Alexis Bledel's character, Beth. She's too stupid to realize that he is cheating on her, despite her bitter girlfriends warning her over and over again. Tom has a new employee, Daniel Seaver (Bryan Greenberg) who does not have a personality, so he teaches him how to be a successful trader on Wall Street. Beth and Daniel have a spark. They get together in the end when she realizes that the successful Wall Street guy is a dirty cheater and has been since forever.OH! But there's a twist! The beginning is actually the end. How clever.

Oh and Tom turns out to be the bad guy. Throw in an Asian and a black guy to spice things up, so they wouldn't be criticized for no diversity. Well, got that covered, now how about the script...I could not stop banging my head with my palm because every line made me shiver. Every line was just another cliché line. It's a horrible "romantic" flick filled with the lines of every other romantic Hollywood movie. Characters weren't developed well enough. Hell, they weren't developed at all, so there was really nothing to this film. I did not feel any connection between the characters. They tried to show the comfortable relationships that surround the group of friends with constant cursing. It shouldn't be rated R because there wasn't any sexual content that was unbearable; there were no naked bodies and aside from the cursing, there was nothing insane. Glad it was a short hour and 37 minutes. AND DON'T EVEN TRY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR CONVERSATIONS. THEY'RE NOT UNDERSTANDABLE.

And Bryan Greenberg is too good to be on this piece of sh-t. He was on One Tree Hill, damn it. As for the others, I do not give a ...

Gilmore Girls suxxxx.

No, seriously - This movie is obviously made before Wall Street became unpopular and it is filled with obnoxious, superficial morons. The money guys is chasing tail, drugs, alcohol and most of all the respect of their colleagues. To top it of the girls are stupid beyond belief and are still dreaming about "Mr Right". Sadly some of it is probably somewhat realistic. None of the cast(except Andrew McCarthy in a small part as a Douche) can act and are just pretty faces... If even 10 % of this is close to reality then it explains why Wall Street is destroying itself and the rest of the US. Watch American Psycho (2000), Wall Street or the Stillman Trilogy instead.

Moderately entertaining romance drama set in the world of Wall Street finance. It isn't great and I can see why this movie didn't quite make it in cinemas but it's quite an okay watch on cable. Good points: Firstly the way the story unfolds and characters personalities are revealed is quite interesting and watchable. The romance is quite subtle. Alexis Bledel is okay though a bit girlish looking for a young adult. Liked the outcome. The casting is good. Bryan Greenberg is well cast as the more sensitive love interest. Scott Porter is okay as the wall street hot shot - liked the way his character played out. Andrew McCarthy is good as the hard boss.

The faults: What was clichéd about the script is how Wall Street people are portrayed as hard drinking womanizing schmoozing and procuring etc. If you worked hard you wouldn't have the energy to party like that. And in reality the actually don't.

Worth a watch but not a must see.